Management is the most important aspect of owning rental property.  Bad management can result not only in loss of rents and/or increased operating expenses, but can lead to lawsuits and even criminal prosecution.  Good management requires significantly different knowledge and skills than the investing aspect of income property.

A Certificate of Course Completion is now available for this Course.

      This e-course will take you step-by-step through the subject of property management, including both legal and practical issues.  A pre-course quiz will test your existing knowledge of the subject and a final quiz will allow you to see how much you learned.  You may repeat all or parts of the course as many times as desired.  Some of the issues covered in this course are covered in more detail in various Web pages throughout the CSES family of Webs.
      Finally, this course includes a lot of detail so as to cover even most unique and/or complex properties  Certain issues will not be of equal concern for managing all properties, or in some cases will be of no concern at all.  If you understand the reasoning behind each issue, you should be able to judge if and to what degree an issue should be of concern for managing a particular property.

Introduction & Overview

• Pretest Your Knowledge

• For definitions of terms used that may be unfamiliar, utilize either the public glossary or the much larger members-only glossary.

Lesson 1 - Outside Property Manager

• When to use one

• How to select one

• Monitor the manager

Lesson 2 - Accounting

• Shoe Box Method

• Manual Bookkeeping

• Computer Accounting

Lesson 3 - Maintenance

• Introduction

• Hiring contractors

  • Liabilities

  • Licensed vs. unlicensed

  • Independent contractors vs. employees

  • Selecting contractors

• Doing it yourself

• Tenant repairs

Lesson 4 - Forms & Agreements

• Applications

• Leases

• Checklists

• Letters

• Legal Notices

• Court Forms

• Miscellaneous

Lesson 5 - Health & Safety

• Liability

• Health

  • Asbestos

  • Lead

  • Mold

  • Pests

  • Radon

• Safety & Security

  • Interior - locks, smoke detectors, CO detectors

  • Exterior - lighting, guards

  • Pools, spas, exercise facilities

  • Employees & Agents

• Insurance

Lesson 6 - Landlord-Tenant Law

• General
  

• History
  

• Some issues
  

  • Right to privacy

  • Warranty of habitability

Lesson 7 - Civil Rights

• Fair Housing Laws

• Americans with Disabilities Act

• Complaints & Penalties for Discrimination

• Exemptions

Lesson 8 - Tenant Relations

• Privacy

• Repairs & Maintenance

• Be Friendly Not Friends

Lesson 9 - Vacancies

• Minimizing

• Anticipating

• Targeting

• Advertising

  • What works

  • What's legal

Lesson 10 - Tenant Screening & Selection

• Applications

• Investigation

  • Verify Identity

  • Credit Report

  • Previous Landlord Reference

  • Employment Verification

  • Criminal Record Check

  • Eviction Records

  • Other

• Selection

  • Qualification criteria

  • Civil rights

Lesson 11 - Security Deposits

• The law

• Pet deposits

• Closing statements

Lesson 12 - Rents

• What Should Rents Be

• Raising Rents

• Rent Control

• Collecting Rents

• Evictions e-course

• Collecting Judgments e-course

• Special Rent Collection Methods

• Government Programs

  • Section 8

  • Section 42

Lesson 13 - Controlling Expenses

• Maintenance

• Utilities

  • Conservation

  • Transfer costs to tenants

• Property Taxes

• Insurance

Summary & Conclusions

Final Quiz